Clamping Apparatus
AssigneeTygard Machine & Manufacturing Company
InventorEdward Tygard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A clamping apparatus includes a frame adapted for mounting on a forklift so as to be raised and lowered along a mast of the forklift, a carriage supported by the frame for movement with respect to the frame in the widthwise direction of the forklift, two lifting arms supported by the carriage and extending in the widthwise direction of the frame, and a drive mechanism operatively connected to one of the lifting arms for producing relative movement of the lifting arms in the fore-and-aft direction of the frame to enable the lifting arms to grasp and release a load. The clamping apparatus can lift a portion of the objects in a closely-spaced layer and remove them from the layer without disturbing other objects in the layer. The clamping apparatus is particularly suitable for handling buckets.
Claims19
A clamping apparatus comprising:
- a frame adapted for mounting on a forklift having a mast so as to be raised and lowered along the mast, the frame having a widthwise direction which is parallel to a widthwise direction of the forklift and a fore-and-aft direction which is parallel to a fore-and-aft direction of the forklift when the frame is mounted on the forklift;
- a carriage supported by the frame for movement with respect to the frame in a widthwise direction of the frame;
- first and second lifting arms supported by the carriage and extending in the widthwise direction of the frame;
- and
- a drive mechanism operatively connected to one of the lifting arms for moving the one of the lifting arms in the fore-and-aft direction of the frame to enable the lifting arms to grasp and release a load.
A method of lifting an object comprising:
- moving a first lifting arm and a second lifting arm parallel to each other to insert the first lifting arm between a first object and a second object having a minimum separation from the first object of at most 6 inches to position the lifting arms on opposite sides of the first object;
- bringing the lifting arms into contact with the first object and grasping the first object with the lifting arms;
- and
- raising the lifting arms to raise the first object with respect to the second object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.